Shifters, Inc. The Bear Who Loved Me (A BBW paranormal romance) (9 page)

His palm print stood out on her pale buttock in shocking scarlet, and her pussy lips were swollen, her pink slit sticky and inviting. The Beast roughly pushed down his jeans and underwear and positioned himself behind her, rubbing the head of his cock up and down the hot, slippery flesh as she arched her back invitingly. Then he pushed inside her, not quite roughly but with swift efficiency that made the designer mewl and shudder.

Her pussy was as tight as a fist around his throbbing cock, and as he started to thrust she pushed back against him with a flattering eagerness, supporting herself on one hand and rubbing eagerly at her clit with the other.

He clutched her hips, bunching the delicate fabric of her negligee between his fingers, not caring if it tore. With each thrust inside her he gave a bestial grunt, and she responded with a strangled moan, frantically fingering her clit and rolling her hips back against him.

Levi allowed his eyes to close and concentrated on the clutching sensation of her warm, slick flesh around his cock. A hot, heavy sensation began to build in his balls as he held her slender body and pictured her golden curls, her dazzling blue eyes…

He stuttered in his rhythm, earning a frustrated growl from Benedetta as his eyes snapped open. He froze for a moment in shock and reminded himself that he was having sex with a beautiful, willing woman…and it was Benedetta. Benedetta. Not Bridgit.

Frustrated and furious with himself, he banished the seductive image from his mind, bending forward and seizing a handful of Benedetta’s raven hair so he could pull her head back and graze the skin of her throat with his teeth. He fucked her with renewed vigor, thrusting furiously inside her – thrusting away thoughts of the golden wolf-shifter he had no business fantasizing about. He wrapped his arm around Benedetta’s waist and pounded into her, and her cries rose, crescendoing into a howl of completion as she spasmed wildly around him. She let off a rapid-fire stream of obscenities in breathless Italian as he continued to flex his hips. He gritted his teeth against the sensation, persevering even as the Italian woman, now limp and dewy with sweat, gave another hoarse cry and there was scattered laughter and a sprinkling of good-natured applause from the gathered companions.

The tight sensation in his balls built until he couldn’t contain himself any longer and he exploded, pulling out at the last moment to release thick, heavy ropes of cum over the pink skin of Benedetta’s well-spanked ass.

Heaving in labored breaths, he collapsed to one side, exhausted. He felt limp, weary, aching…and unsatisfied. The restlessness that sex usually banished was still with him, gnawing away at his gut. Even as Benedetta stretched, obviously replete, and gave a happy little moan, he felt angry and frustrated. The sense of release that usually came with orgasm was absent. He was afraid he knew why. But that was stupid. It wasn’t as if he needed emotion with his sex.

Benedetta draped herself languorously across his chest and he played absent-mindedly with a lock of her hair.

One of the companions, a well-endowed brunette with an intriguingly clean-shaven mound, gave a lascivious smile and sauntered towards the bed, clearly intent on joining them.

              The Beast ignored the sense of unease tweaking at his nerve-endings. What he needed was as many rounds of wild, mindless sex as the pleasure cruise’s companions could provide. What he definitely didn’t need was time to think.

Besides, any thoughts of Bridgit were pointless. She seemed like a nice person, someone who deserved a man who’d treat her well. He reminded himself that there was no room in his life for a relationship, for caring, for anything but the burning need for revenge.

              Jake, their team leader and a lion shifter, had a cabin on the same floor as Heath and Reshef. After he and Tonya finished watching Reshef and his crew, who seemed to have an endless sexual appetite, Heath quickly headed over to check in with him.

              He met the Beast in the corridor. The Beast grunted a hello, which was a fairly friendly greeting coming from him.

“Someone got laid last night,” Jake said, as Heath and the Beast walked into his suite. “Hmm. You both got laid. I can scent it on you. And from the looks of it, I’d say Heath had a better time.”

              The Beast shrugged. “Sex is sex. Do it. Move on.”

              Heath looked at him critically. “That’s different. Usually you force us to listen to you brag about your exploits for fucking ever. Getting jaded, are we?”

              Levi looked uncomfortable, scowling and looking away. “Why don’t we talk about you? I hear Bobbi thinks the fox is your Fated Mate.”

              “Why don’t we talk about our mission,” Jake suggested, “instead of your wandering dicks? Any thoughts, anything new?”

              “Not since we talked last night,” Heath said. The Beast shook his head.

              “Nobody’s jumping out as a suspect,” Heath continued. “I mean, there’s a whole boatful of potential assassins here, really. But here’s a question. If the Chameleon succeeds in assassinating his target, the boat is going to be on lockdown. It’s not like assassinating someone on land, where you can disappear and leave the area. It’s much riskier doing it here. Yeah, the Chameleon could use some kind of slow-acting poison so he wouldn’t be around when the target died, but he’d have to know that the risk of exposure is much greater on a cruise ship. So why do it here?”

              “Good question.” Jake nodded approvingly. “So you’re not just a pretty face.”

              “He’s not even that,” the Beast growled. It seemed he was still nettled by Heath’s minor jabs at him, or maybe because of his apparently unsatisfactory encounter the previous evening.

              Irritated, Heath let out a low, rumbling growl of his own, answered by a snarl from the Beast, and then they were on their feet, snapping and bristling at each other.

              “Enough!” Jake pounded his fist on the table. “We’re here to work, not get pissy with each other, so sit down and shut the fuck up. Goddamn prima donnas.”

              Heath sank back down in his chair, grumbling under his breath, and the Beast did the same.

              “Maybe if you ever got laid, you’d be less of an asshole,” Heath grumbled to Jake.

              Jake snorted at that. He wasn’t one for dating, as far as Heath could tell. “I have my hands full dealing with you guys. It’s like hearding cats, for Godsakes.  So, Heath, I assume you have some thoughts on why the Chameleon would strike here.”

“Well, the only advantage of being on the boat that I can see is that it’s possible for total strangers to get up-close and personal with the passengers,” Heath said. “The companions especially, of course. So who would be hard to approach anywhere but here? Out of the people we’re protecting, Benedetta and Duncan are both very approachable generally. Benedetta holds fashion shows all the time. Duncan is always the man about town, taking his model girlfriends, who we now know are his beards, out to movie premieres and plays and nightclubs. It would be easy to assassinate either of them on land. Reshef, however, from what you’ve told me – he’s usually in an enormous palace surrounded by bodyguards, and he’s rarely seen out in public.”

              “That is true.” Jake nodded. “When he goes shopping, apparently he has the stores and the streets shut down so it’s just him and his retinue. Him being here would give an assassin a unique opportunity. Unfortunately, he’s the one we’re having the hardest time getting close to. What have you learned so far from watching him?”

              “Not much, other than that he can screw for hours, and being his bodyguard would be an awesome job,” Heath said. “Or at least some of them. There are three or four of his bodyguards who get to share the companions. It’s not that he’s unprotected. He doesn’t let his guard down; there’s still always a dozen bodyguards in the room watching. He always has a dozen or so companions in there, and he pays them very generously to service both him and his employees.”

              “He is the most likely target, you’re right.  Unfortunately, since he won’t let us send in any additional security, all we can do is be extra vigilant and ensure we never take our eyes off him,” Jake said.

              After chatting for a few more minutes, Heath headed up to the restaurant where Reshef was going to be eating. He’d let Tonya know that he’d be working all day, but he’d make it up to her when he was relieved for the evening.

              He felt a warm glow at the thought of being with Tonya again that night – and also an uneasy feeling brewing deep inside. Being with Tonya felt perfect, like he’d been missing a part of himself his entire life and he was only whole when he was with her. He’d never felt that way about any woman, ever. A lifetime of growing up on the streets had made him cautious about letting anyone get too close, outside the ragtag little family he and Bobbi and a few others had built while squatting in abandoned buildings.

              He wanted to be able to let his barriers down for her, he realized. He wanted to get to know her; they hadn’t even talked much. They’d been all over each other the night before, finally falling into an exhausted sleep.

              Would she really want him if she knew about his childhood, the way he’d grown up, the things he’d done?

              Thinking about it made him uneasy, and he had to concentrate on his job. He pushed all thoughts of her from his head and settled down for a long day of watching the rich, arrogant asshole who wanted to have sex with his fox.

              Reshef kept him busy, moving around all day – visiting various erotic cabarets and sex shows, stopping to shop, always with his crowd of bodyguards moving with him. Several times Heath switched off with Tanner, heading off to watch Duncan instead so Reshef wouldn’t notice that Heath was there every time he turned around.

              The day dragged. He kept hoping he’d catch a glimpse of Tonya, but he didn’t. He’d never been so eager to sit down with someone and just talk. He actually wanted to hold her hands and stare into her eyes and listen to her beautiful voice. If anyone had told him just a few short days ago that he’d be feeling this way, he would have laughed. Or gagged in disgust.

              Now he got it. Love songs. Heartbreak. Passion. Valentine’s Day cards. He really, really got it. He found himself wondering what he’d buy her for Christmas. How foolish was that?

              When he got back to his room, he found out just how foolish it was.

              There was a bouquet of roses on the table, and a note next to them. He walked over and opened the note, smiling. Aw, she’d left him roses. How adorable.

              But they weren’t for him. They were for Tonya.

             
Today was delightful. I can’t wait for more
, the note read, and it was signed with a big, swirling
R
.

              He felt rage cloud his vision and red-hot fury flowing through his veins, and his whole world went black with an explosive need to destroy.

* * *

              The Midnight at the Oasis Bar was crowded and the dark sky overhead was the deepest black Tonya had ever seen. Far away from the lights of the city, the stars glittered and seemed close enough to pluck from the sky.

              The night air was warm, and Tonya thought that she wouldn’t mind a stroll around the ship with Heath. Perhaps a drink or two. And then…

              Tonya glanced at her watch. She imagined Heath would be back in his room by now. She should head back to meet him. Or should she wait? She didn’t want to seem clingy and needy. How did one do this? Dating was not her forte. Men hardly ever asked her out. According to Bridgit, that was because she tended to ignore their signals and send “leave me alone” vibes.

              She’d been thinking about Heath all day long, yearning to feel his strong arms wrapped around her again. She loved how safe she felt when she was with him. She loved how beautiful he made her feel – not just with words, but with actions, with the raw hunger she saw in his eyes, with his groans of pleasure, with the way he tore her clothes from her and threw himself on her as if he’d die if he wasn’t with her. Nobody had ever made her feel beautiful before.

She didn’t know a thing about him, and all of a sudden she wanted to know everything. But what did he want? Was this just a cruise-ship romance for him?

              The thought of him walking down the gangplank and driving away without her made her heart ache and her stomach queasy. How had she come to care for him so quickly? Bridgit would probably tell her that must mean he was her Fated Mate, but then Bridgit was a moony-eyed romantic who was waiting for her prince to sweep her off her feet.

Heath acted all jealous and possessive, which she had to admit she found flattering – but did that mean he wanted a real relationship with her?

              She sighed and set down her mojito. She found herself feeling nervous now. Would he be happy to see her? Would he be bored with her already?

              “Look, there is Benedetta,” Antonia said happily, nodding across the room at the glamorous designer. Tonight Benedetta wore a delicate lace gown that looked as if it were strung together from cobwebs – with no bra or panties underneath. She was holding hands with two companions, a man and a woman, and a group of companions were trailing behind her.